Ursula von der Leyen’s tariff deal with Washington marks the clearest admission yet of Europe’s diminished status in the transatlantic order. EU member states have transferred their sovereignty to the EU and are bound by agreements they may regard—in one or more respects—as disadvantageous to themselves. This loss of national sovereignty, we are told, is far outweighed by the collective advantages centralised negotiation by the Commission secures for every single member, even those that benefit less than others. This myth has survived, notwithstanding ample evidence to the contrary: the EU has promoted rather than limited mass migration; von der Leyen’s so-called Great Green Transformation has led to deindustrialisation; and, while the Green Deal is dismantling Europe’s traditional industries, the EU has failed to establish fast-growing high-tech industrial capacities able to compete with the U.S. and the Far East.
